I just got a chance to look over the card numbers extracted from the 2010 disk. Since I did it last year for the 2009 set, I thought I’d do a series of articles breaking down the “cards” number-wise. Today, I’ll start with the pitchers. As an FYI, these figures I’m working with are based on all the players from the computer disk not just the cards. Also, since K, R and ZZ ratings are unknown to us, they aren’t listed.
Let’s begin with the starters and first and foremost, grade distribution. Nothing too unusual here:
| 2010 Starters | Grade distribution |
|---|---|
| A | 4% |
| B | 21% |
| C | 30% |
| D | 45% |
And perhaps here either with the distribution of strikeout letters among starters:
| Starters’ Strikeout letters | |
|---|---|
| Y | 30% |
| X | 16% |
| XY | 3% |
| none | 51% |
Maybe it’s a sign of our time but I did find it interesting that pitchers with Ws (22%) neared those with Zs (28%) among starters.
| Starters’ Control letters | |
|---|---|
| Z | 28% |
| W | 22% |
| none | 50% |
Three pitchers (Kenley Jansen, Craig Kimbrel and Hong-Chih Kuo) comprised the 1% of relievers who were A&B*.
| 2010 Relievers | Grade Distribution |
|---|---|
| A&B* | 1% |
| A&C* | 3% |
| A* | 13% |
| B* | 18% |
| C* | 23% |
| D* | 42% |
The strikeout letter distribution was a lot sexier among the relievers than the starters. More relievers were rated with an XY rating than an X rating. Compare them to the starters (over half of them didn’t have a letter at all). Over sixty percent of them had a Y, an X or both.
| Relievers’ Strikeout Letters | |
|---|---|
| Y | 27% |
| X | 15% |
| XY | 20% |
| none | 38% |
Things were pretty exciting on the control end for the relievers too but perhaps not in a good way. Less Zs and more Ws (by a 50% margin).
| Relievers’ Control letters | |
|---|---|
| Z | 17% |
| W | 33% |
| none | 50% |
I’m going to do a separate post on fielding but I’ll throw this in here anyway. There’s more P-1s. Does that mean bad fielding pitchers? Probably not. Remember, there are a lot of 10 inning or less pitchers in this lot and not many of them will be P-2s.
| Fielding for all pitchers | |
|---|---|
| P-1 | 54% |
| P-2 | 46% |
Here are a couple best-ofs. If you have these formidable hurlers on your league, congrats.
| Best Starting Grade | Grade |
|---|---|
| Felix Hernandez | 18 |
| Clay Buchholz | 17 |
| David Price | 16 |
| Daniel Hudson | 16 |
| Josh Johnson | 16 |
| Roy Halladay | 16 |
| Adam Wainwright | 16 |
| Chris R. Young | 16 |
I’ve already mentioned Jansen, Kimbrel, and Kuo. Thanks to the manager who suggested I draft Perez when he was a rookie. He’s finally paying off.
| Best Relief Grade | |
|---|---|
| Kenley Jansen | 26 |
| Craig Kimbrel | 25 |
| Hong-Chih Kuo | 25 |
| Chris Perez | 24 |
| Alexi Ogando | 24 |
| Andrew Bailey | 23 |
| Joaquin Benoit | 23 |
| Billy Wagner | 22 |
| Jonny Venters | 21 |
| Joe Thatcher | 21 |
| Santiago Casilla | 21 |
Finally, a couple of 2010 trivia questions:
| Most wins by a D | James Shields | 13 |
| Most losses by an A starter: | Felix Hernandez | 12 |
I’ll be doing a couple more articles in the next few days. Most likely, one on fielding and the other on the offensive numbers. Feel free to comment on what you would like to see.
